Jacob's Maze
by elliefaucet
Summary: "Here she was, hanging off a wall, trying to get away from Jacob Ben Israel who wanted to make her a sex slave, and forming a sort of friendship with her former tormentor. Nothing seemed real about this scenario." Rachel and Quinn end up stuck in a maze together. Set after S1.
1. The Plan

**A/N: I wanted to write something very different from OGAC during NaNoWriMo this year since I haven't had a break from OGAC since June, and this was one of the short stories I wrote. It's definitely... different. **

* * *

Quinn Fabray did not want to be there. At all.

She sat in her car for ten minutes, debating whether to go hide out in the library for the two hours. Eventually she decided against this because there was the chance that someone would see her reading, and here she could (hopefully) sit in the back and read in peace.

So that's how she ended up on the front porch of Rachel Berry's house, _The Great Gatsby_ in hand, for the first glee rehearsal of the summer.

Two terse knocks brought a shouted, "I'll be right there!" and seconds later, the owner of the voice. Rachel's face brightened at the sight of Quinn, while Quinn felt her stomach painfully twist into knots. She should've risked the library.

"Quinn!" she cried, pulling the girl into an unexpected hug which just made her stomach feel worse. Rachel came to her senses, probably realizing that Quinn wasn't hugging back and therefore the feelings weren't reciprocated, and quickly broke the embrace. "Come in."

Quinn smoothed down her dress to remove all traces of the hug, and grudgingly followed her inside. She noticed that Rachel was actually decently dressed. That is, if you ignored the fact that her shorts showed even more of her legs than those ugly skirts did. She wanted to comment on it, but she had sworn after having Beth that she would at least try not to be a bitch. So she kept her thoughts to herself and instead decided to ask about the absence of the other glee club members.

"Oh, they just haven't arrived yet. I'm sure they'll show up eventually." She tried smiling, but it was the fake smile she always tried to put on when people were hurting her. Quinn would know; she had seen that smile several times.

"I wouldn't count on Santana and Brittany."

"Why not?"

"It's a day of the week without school. They're either having sex or at Cheerios practice. Or both."

"Is that really all they do?"

"Yes."

"How do you associate with them so much when they're so… active, and you're not?"

"I don't remember signing up for a Q&A session, Berry." She couldn't bring herself to call her Rachel, but she also couldn't go back to the nicknames. She was trying to be a better person, after all.

If she had snapped at anyone else, they would've shut up; not Rachel. "Would you like anything to drink? Or eat? I know we don't have the same dietary needs but I'm sure I can find-"

"I'm good."

"Are you sure? Finn sent over this lovely fruit basket this morning and-"

There was only so much rambling she could take. "You know what? Fine. I'll have some fruit if it'll make you stop talking."

"Okay, it's up in my room because that's where my dad brought it when he found it on our doorstep and I haven't-"

"Lead the way."

Quinn used the steps on the staircase up to Rachel's room as a release of her anger. Each step brought her closer to a sense of calm so she hopefully wouldn't strangle Rachel by the end of the two hours. Though if she was this irritated in five minutes, there wasn't much hope.

Her bedroom was exactly how Quinn expected it to be, what with the Broadway posters and the pink electric guitar. It was just like her, with that strange mixture of child and grandma. The only thing that really stood out from an otherwise perfectly in order room was the absolutely huge fruit basket on her desk. It was no wonder she hadn't taken it downstairs yet; it was half her size and Quinn doubted the girl could lift it.

"What kind do you like?" Rachel asked, gesturing to the basket.

"Anything's fine."

A lightbulb went off in her head. "I'll be right back, we need plates!"

Taking a second look at the basket to try to avoid Rachel going off on a tangent of all of the fruits upon coming back, Quinn noticed there was a card beside the basket on the desk. There was no hesitation as she picked it up, wanting to know what act of stupidity Finn had done that could warrant a present of this size.

But as she read on about his undying love for the girl, she became confused. There was no way he had just gotten this out of love. This was _Finn_ we were talking about, after all. He would have had to sell his Xbox to afford something this lavish, and the only way he would do that was if he royally fucked up. That's when she realized it wasn't his handwriting.

"You know, reading another's mail without her permission is really rude, Quinn." At the sound of her voice, Quinn jumped. She quickly regained her composure and turned to Rachel.

"This isn't Finn's handwriting," she stated, holding up the letter.

"That's absurd, Quinn. Who else would it be from?" Rachel snatched the letter away and began reading it again to prove her wrong.

"I don't know. Santana and I used to put laxatives in the food of our competition, but that was back when I was on the-" The memories hit her like a freight train. She wanted so much to be back on that team, even if it meant walking in on "shower cuddles", as Brittany called them, after practice.

"Well I'm not from a rival cheerleading squad so I think I'm safe." Rachel went to take a bite out of a strawberry she had picked up, but Quinn stopped her.

"Don't eat that," she warned.

Rachel's eyes narrowed. There was only a certain amount of Quinn she could take as well. "You know what I think this is about? I think you're jealous that Finn never got you anything this nice. So you write it off as being some juvenile prank because you just can't stand the thought that someone could love me more than they love you!"

At the sight of Rachel's anger, Quinn's made a reappearance. "That is the farthest thing from the truth. Have you considered the fact that I'm trying to be nice to you? Have you considered I regret what happened between us last year and I'm trying my best to make amends? But I can't if you won't let me."

"Quinn, I didn't-"

"So sure, have some fruit! I'll have some too! But if we die or something else of that nature happens, I will blame you and you will have lost what little tolerance I have for you at the moment." With that, Quinn stole the strawberry from Rachel's hand and took a huge bite. Rachel, not wanting to take back her words, grabbed an apple and took a chunk out of it.

"Well, we're not dead," Rachel commented after a minute.

"You're so frustrating! Do you just try to make people hate you?"

"No, it was just a joke I- Quinn!" She had dropped to the floor out of nowhere. "This isn't funny!" She leant down to examine Quinn, but before she could check for a pulse, she blacked out.

"Yes!" came a cry from the tree outside the room, a huge crash following it as Jacob Ben Israel hit the ground. He scrambled up, pulling his bag from the bushes, ready to commence phase two of Operation: Kidnap Rachel Berry.


	2. The First Night

The fact that they were carried into a van, driven out of town down a very bumpy dirt road, and then carried up stairs didn't register because of the drugs. That said, they should've been aware when they cuddled in each other's arms for the next few hours.

Quinn woke up first, but was still groggy and thought it nothing but a very nice dream she wanted to live in, so she went back to sleep after squeezing Rachel a little tighter.

It wasn't until Rachel woke up a few hours later that she thought anything of it.

"Good morning," Rachel murmured sleepily, nuzzling further into the crook of Quinn's neck.

Quinn smiled at her lazily, feeling completely at peace with the world. Then her thoughts started catching up with her, flooding back faster than she wanted to, and the sick feeling in her stomach returned.

She hastily untangled herself from Rachel, moving as if she had been struck by lightning to the farthest corner of the bed (which was pretty far, seeing as they had been in the middle of a king size bed). "Do you not know the definition of personal space, Berry?"

She sat up, clearly annoyed. "May I remind you that you had _your_ arms around _me_?"

"So what? I cling to anything close to me when I sleep. You shouldn't sleep so close to me," Quinn snapped.

"Well maybe next time you shouldn't fall asleep during Glee-" The realization that this wasn't her room hit her. The dim lighting and blood red walls should've told her this earlier, but in her defense Quinn hadn't figured it out either until then.

Before Quinn could start yelling at Rachel, however, the door opened. The two unconsciously got closer out of fear.

"Hello ladies," said Jacob Ben Israel confidently. "I'm sure you're wondering why I brought you here."

Quinn burst out laughing. "Wait, you're the reason we're here? You kidnapped us?"

"That is correct."

"Are you a moron?" he opened his mouth to respond but Quinn stopped him. "No, don't answer that. You obviously are if you think you're going to get away with this."

"I actually never intended to abduct you as well. It just so happened you were there when I came to retrieve my sweet." He looked longingly at Rachel, who just looked disgusted.

"Jacob Ben Israel you will release us this instant! My fathers are most likely frantically looking for me at this moment and they will be pressing charges because you can't just drug and kidnap someone!"

"Your fathers think you've gone away to a performing arts camp. I left them a note explaining how you just had to escape after the disappointing glee rehearsal."

"My mom may be a drunk, but she'll notice I'm gone. And there's no way she'll buy that I went to a performing arts camp," Quinn retorted.

"But she will buy your sudden rejoining of the Cheerios and going to cheer camp. Face it, no one is looking for either of you."

Quinn's mouth snapped shut. She was out of retorts, so Jacob began revealing his plans for them in great, sickening detail. Meanwhile, Rachel was busy formulating an escape plan. She scooted over to tell it to Quinn.

"If we both run at him, we can get out the door," she whispered as Jacob went on about his creepy sex ideas of a threesome that he could record and put on his blog.

"Okay," Quinn agreed. When it came down to it, the two knew when to put aside their differences and join forces. "Now?"

"Now." At Rachel's words, the two jumped up, running at Jacob. Quinn got there first and pushed him to the ground, clearing the way. He let out a cry as Quinn sprinted past and out into the hall. She didn't stop until she heard a shriek that she knew wasn't Jacob's.

"Quinn!"

She hesitated for a moment, Jacob having probably grabbed onto Rachel. But then she resumed running even faster. Being nice doesn't apply when you're running for your life.

This only lasted for about a minute before she ran into an entire flank of guards.

"Fuck," she muttered as they dragged her back to the room where Jacob had a tight grip on Rachel's ankle.

"Good work, gentlemen," Jacob said, letting go of Rachel and standing up. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go see if the sex chamber is ready."

After he left, the guards practically threw Quinn in the room before locking them in. Rachel offered her a hand off the ground, but Quinn ignored her and got up herself.

"Well that failed," Quinn said, going to sit on the bed to brood.

"You left me," Rachel stated, hurt in her eyes.

"If I had come back, we both wouldn't have had a chance."

"Do you really hate me that much that you would leave me with that creep to let him do unspeakable things?"

"Of course not. If I had gotten out, I would've called the police. I wouldn't just leave you here, Berry."

"Okay…" Rachel nodded. "I believe you."

"You do?" she asked, surprised. She had just made all that up so Rachel wouldn't cry. Quinn wasn't actually expecting Rachel to buy it.

"Yeah," she smiled wearily, coming over and hugging her. This time Quinn returned it, mostly because she felt guilty.

"We need to get out of here," Quinn stated once they had broken apart.

"How? The door's locked." Rachel went over and tried to twist the knob just to prove her point.

"There's a window," she answered, going over to inspect it. The latch could be unlocked and Quinn opened the window, leaning her head out. Unfortunately they were three stories up. She turned back to look at a hopeful Rachel. "Bad news: we're in the middle of nowhere." She had noticed the lack of civilization when looking out. "Worse news: we're three stories up."

"We're doomed," Rachel sighed, collapsing on the bed.

"Not necessarily. Cheerios trained me for a lot of situations," Quinn replied, going back over to the bed. "Get up, I need the sheets."

"For what?"

"Just shut up and do what I say," she snapped, trying to concentrate on what she needed to do but not being able to because of Rachel's annoying, always condescending voice.

Rachel got up and Quinn started stripping the bed. "Look around and see if you can find more sheets or blankets. Grab the towels from the bathroom, too." Rachel nodded and went to work.

Soon, they had created a rope to scale down. Quinn looked at her creation proudly for a second before getting back to work. "Okay. We need to move some furniture. Help me push the dresser in front of the door."

"Why?" she asked, but went over to start pushing anyway.

"I thought I told you not to ask questions," Quinn retorted as they struggled with the dresser. "What's in this thing anyway?"

"You don't want to know," Rachel assured her, having looked in it when searching for more bedsheets.

"Okay, that should buy us a little time. Now we have to move the bed to beside the window. Our rope isn't long enough," Quinn explained once they had finished.

"Sorry."

"It's not your fault," Quinn grunted, having even more difficulties moving the bed. She had yet to regain all of her strength after her pregnancy, and the bed was huge.

Rachel almost fell in shock. Quinn was being semi-nice to her! It was a miracle! "Do you have a plan for when we get out of here?"

"No questions."

"Sorry."

With one final push, the bed was right up against the window. Quinn tied their makeshift rope to an end pole in a very intricate knot, and then pulled on it to make it stick.

"There. You want to go first?"

Rachel looked conflicted. "I probably should've told you earlier, but I'm deathly afraid of heights."

Quinn sighed in frustration. "Of course you are."

"This might put a dent in our escape plan," Rachel admitted.

"No it won't, because you're going to get over it."

"But I can't!" she cried, looking out the window. "We're so high up." Then she started going on an incoherent rant that Quinn tuned out almost immediately.

"Stop," Quinn said firmly, putting an end to it after two minutes. "You have two choices, Berry, and I don't care which one you choose. You can either stay up here and become a sex slave to Jacob Ben Israel, or you can climb down the rope with me and become a Broadway star."

"You really think I'll make it to Broadway?" she asked, hopefully looking up at Quinn.

Quinn avoided looking at her. "If you make it down that rope you can do anything you want."

"Okay," she nodded. "I can do this… I can do this…" she said confidently as she walked back over to the window. She stopped abruptly in front of it before backing up a few steps. "How do I do this, Quinn?"

Quinn sighed. "Have you ever been rock climbing?"

"Afraid of heights, remember?"

"Well what you want to do is slowly make your way down the side with a good hold on the rope, finding footfalls if you can-"

"And if I can't?" she interrupted.

Quinn glared at her. "Then it will be considerably harder." She had no patience for Rachel's antics at the moment, or ever, really. "Normally I would tie the rope around you to catch you if you lose your footing, but it's not long enough for that so you'll have to be very careful not to fall."

"I… I think I can do it." She went back to the window, rope in hand, only to quickly back away. "It's pitch black! How am I supposed to see foot whatevers if I can't see!"

"Just slide down the rope like it's a pole, I don't care! Do something!"

"You're not going to leave me again, are you?" Rachel asked hesitantly as she made her way back to the window.

"Yes, of course. I'm going to let you fall to your death on the rope and then I'll walk through that door and go home," she said flatly. Rachel looked horrified. "I was just joking."

"Now isn't the time for jokes, Quinn," Rachel reprimanded her.

"Just go down the rope before Jacob gets back, Berry."

Rachel took a few deep calming breaths before climbing onto the window sill. She looked over one last time at Quinn before going out. Quinn hurried over to watch her descent.

Rachel was internally freaking out. Here she was, hanging off a wall, trying to get away from Jacob Ben Israel who wanted to make her a sex slave, and forming a sort of friendship with her former tormentor. Nothing seemed real about this scenario.

"You okay?" she heard Quinn call out.

"Just peachy!" she replied as she slowly made her way down.

Quinn couldn't see a thing. Though the room was dim, it still affected her vision and prevented her from being able to adjust to the darkness of the night. "I'll take your word on that."

Rachel started to say that she was being sarcastic and the queen of sarcasm should know that, but she never got around to it. The second she opened her mouth, she missed a step. She let out a shriek and fell several feet before she came to her senses and tightened her grip on the rope.

"What happened?"

"Fell," was all the usually verbose Rachel could manage to say.

"You okay?"

"No…" And she wasn't. She had skinned her knees and got rope burn from the fall. Not to mention she was at the very end of the rope but still a good six feet above the ground.

"Just make it to the ground, okay?"

"I can't, the rope isn't long enough."

"Surely it's not that far from the ground."

"Quinn," she whined.

"Let go of the rope, Rachel, or I'm cutting it." It wasn't Quinn's threat that made her let go; it was the fact that Quinn had called her by name. She hit the ground with a loud thud.

"Shit," Quinn muttered, having heard the noise. She quickly sprang into action, taking the rope and scaling down the wall like a pro. And since she was trained by Sue Sylvester, she was a pro.

She didn't hesitate to jump the last few feet, landing on the ground with a roll exactly as she had been taught.

"Are you a ninja?" Rachel groaned, having witnessed everything Quinn did.

"You're obviously not," she stated. "Hurry and get up, I'm sure someone heard you."

"But everything hurts."

"Sex slave or Broadway?"

"Okay, okay. If you will please give me a hand up. I don't think I can get up on my own."

Quinn grudgingly offered her a hand, at which Rachel beamed.

"By the way," Rachel started as they started walking in a general direction. "You called me Rachel."

"Did I?"

"I wasn't even aware you knew my name."

"Of course I know your name. I just choose not to use it."

"Why?"

Quinn glared at her. "We probably should be quiet seeing as we're trying to sneak out."

"Right."

The two rounded the corner of the manor to find two huge hedges with a small opening in between them.

Quinn stopped, unsure. "Let's go the other way."

"Why?" Rachel asked, stopping to turn around and stare at her.

"Because that way looks like it could be the start of a maze or something."

Even though it was dark, Quinn could see the smile that developed on Rachel's face. "Are you scared?"

"No."

"It's okay if you are. You'll just have to get over it like I got over my fear. I'll even hold your hand if you want," she offered her hand, but Quinn just ignored her and the thought deep in the back of her mind that she really did want to take Rachel's hand.

"Thanks but no thanks, Berry. I'm not scared," Quinn pushed past her and strode into the opening between the hedges.

Rachel frowned at the use of her last name once again, having hoped that things had changed. Obviously they hadn't and she hurried to catch up.

They walked for about half an hour, their stubbornness keeping them silent, before Quinn finally broke. Anger had been building up in her with every turn and dead end they had come to.

"We're in a maze."

"It would appear so."

Quinn stopped to glare at her. "You know this is all your fault, right?"

"I am aware that I was the one that suggested we enter this-"

"If you had just listened to me when I said that wasn't Finn's handwriting on the card! But instead you had to be stubborn and we got drugged and kidnapped!"

"I thought you were jealous and being mean!"

Quinn scoffed. "I told you I was trying to be nice!"

"Well that's hard to believe of you."

This shut her up. For a minute. "That still doesn't change the fact that you chose not to listen to me _after_ I was proven right. If you hadn't made us come in this maze, we could be halfway back to Lima right now! Hell, we could be _in_ Lima if it wasn't for you!"

Rachel deflated at her words. "I… Quinn, you're right. I'm sorry that I did not trust your obviously good sense of judgement. I will from now on."

"Good."

"Could we… Maybe… Stop for the night?" Rachel asked hopefully. "I'm still aching from my fall and we're completely lost in this maze."

She sighed. "Let's at least find a dead end so if anyone ends up finding us, they won't be able to sneak up from behind."

"But wouldn't that trap us with them as well?"

"Quit doubting me, Berry."

"Not doubting, just pointing out the flaws in your plan."

"Well don't, or I might just have to point out the flaws in your face," she replied irritably. Truth was, she was tired. Tired of walking, tired of Rachel, and especially tired of her stomach being in knots from Rachel's presence.

"Not like you haven't before." Rachel was tired too.

Quinn chose not to reply to this, and focused instead on finding a corner for them to sleep in. It didn't take long, seeing as there were quite a few of them in the maze. Neither spoke when they got to it either, they just both went to their own separate corners of the dead end and tried to sleep.


	3. The Invasion

Though they started off the night as far apart as they could get, the morning brought them snuggled together in the middle.

Rachel woke up first this time. Though she liked the warmth and security Quinn provided, she knew Quinn would freak out if she found them like that again. So she slowly tried to extract herself from Quinn's arms, which was easier said than done. The second she tried, Quinn gripped her tighter, determined not to lose her cuddle buddy.

She sighed, knowing that this wasn't going to end well. And she was right.

When she stirred, she buried her face into Rachel's hair, trying to prolong the sleep. Though as soon as Quinn came to her senses, she scrambled as fast as she could away from Rachel.

"What the hell, Berry?!"

"Sorry! I tried to move but you wouldn't let go!"

"Try a little harder next time," she snapped.

"Okay. I just didn't want to wake you up. You looked so peaceful. You're not like that when you're awake," Rachel explained.

"Why would I be peaceful? We were kidnapped and now we're stuck in a maze. There's absolutely nothing to be peaceful about."

"It was just an observation, Quinn."

"Well you didn't have to voice it. I don't voice all of mine."

"You used to," she muttered, thinking of all the times over the years that Quinn had made fun of her.

"You have no idea what you're talking about, Berry, and I would appreciate it if you would stop talking." She definitely didn't tell Rachel about how she made her feel as if she was both going to throw up and do backflips at the same time. "We need to get out of here. Today."

"I agree. So should we resume trying to find our way through the maze?" she asked, standing up.

"Unless you know some other way out."

"Okay. Left or right?"

* * *

Rachel's stomach hurt. She wasn't sure exactly how long they had been drugged, but she hadn't eaten since then and she was _starving._ Quinn hadn't said anything, but she had to be, too, right?

"Are you as hungry as me?" she asked around noon.

"This is nothing compared to what Coach Sylvester's made us endure. So not really. Could use some water, though." Truth was, she was just as hungry as Rachel. She hadn't done any of Sue's crazy training sessions since before she got pregnant with Beth.

"How long do you think it's been since we were at my house?"

"A day maybe? I don't think we were drugged that long. I would be hungrier if it was more than a day."

"Do you think we'll find a way home?"

"If we can get out of the maze that you got us stuck in."

"Are… Are you still mad at me for that?"

Quinn sighed. "I wasn't mad to begin with. Just annoyed. But yes, I'm still annoyed."

"I said I was sorry."

"Sorry doesn't help the fact that we're still stuck here."

"What more do you want me to say?"

"Absolutely nothing. Just get us out of here."

"Okay." It took her three more hours, but after backtracking and muttering under her breath, Rachel finally found the exit. Or at least she thought.

"Here we are!" she cried excitedly, sprinting over when she found a gap that provided a change in scenery.

"I hope wherever we are has a bacon cheeseburger," Quinn replied, going to follow after Rachel, but ending up just running into her back at the opening. "What is it?"

"I might have gotten something wrong in my calculations," Rachel said as she gazed up at the manor they had escaped from in the middle of the night.

"Shit."

"Quinn, you shouldn't use that kind of language. It's not ladylike no matter the situation and frankly-"

"Can you do _anything _right?" Quinn was fed up. She was hungry, which made her become extremely mean and it was just too easy to take out her frustrations on Rachel.

Rachel visibly shrank at this comment, all happiness disappearing. "I'm sorry. But at least now we can try to find another way home."

"Not during the daylight." She plopped down on the ground right inside the maze where Rachel joined her soon after. "I'm sure the entire place is crawling with people looking for us. I'm surprised we haven't run into anyone yet. Guess they don't think we're stupid enough to try to escape through a maze." At this she shot a glare at Rachel.

"I didn't know it was a maze at first! I just thought it was a very odd landscaping choice."

"Because that makes perfect sense," Quinn murmured.

"Did your parents never teach you that if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all?"

"No."

"That explains it."

"My dad taught me from an early age that I should pick on people like you because you're different and if we try hard enough, then you'll conform."

"Your dad doesn't sound very nice."

"He's kind of the world's biggest jerk," Quinn agreed.

"So then why do you still do what he taught you?"

"I'm trying to be better, okay?" There was a pleading in her voice that Rachel had never heard from her. "It's just hard, when you're taught something for so long, to just walk away from it."

Rachel sat for a moment in silent contemplation. "I have an idea."

"What?" Quinn asked as she arched her eyebrow. She had learned from experience that Rachel's ideas weren't always the best.

"Why don't we start over?" she suggested. "Hi, I'm Rachel Barbra Berry, soon to be Broadway star and current junior at McKinley High School." Rachel held out her hand, which Quinn hesitantly shook after a beat.

"Quinn Fabray, also a junior at McKinley but with no Broadway aspirations of my own. Maybe prom queen instead."

Rachel beamed at her, and Quinn tried to ignore the way her hand felt as if it was on fire as she removed it from Rachel's grasp.

"Nice to meet you, Quinn."

"You too… Rachel."

* * *

They weren't immediately best friends. In fact, they hardly spoke at all the rest of the day, instead opting to take turns napping and keeping watch.

Thankfully Quinn had worn a watch the day she went over to Rachel's (so she would be able to leave rehearsal at exactly the two hour mark), so they were aware of when they should try escaping.

Around ten, they were both wide awake and Rachel was getting antsy. Quinn wanted to wait to move at midnight, but Rachel wanted to go right that second. So she decided the next best thing would be to question her newly-made friend, Quinn.

"Why do you think no one showed up for glee rehearsal that day?"

"It's summer?"

"Well then why did you come?"

"You called my house and my mom answered. I haven't really been out of the house since school ended so she thought it would be good for me."

"You really haven't seen Santana or Brittany since school? Aren't they your best friends?"

"No. After rejecting their offer of a threesome freshman year, they've only tolerated me. And that was only when I was head cheerio."

"Oh. Why did you refuse?"

Quinn jumped up, not at all wanting to answer that question. "Well I guess we can leave now!" She was halfway back to the maze entrance before Rachel even realized what was going on.

"Wait on me!" she cried, running after Quinn.

"Shh!"

Their eyes had long adjusted to the darkness of the maze, so the slight light from the manor hurt them rather than helped. Quinn was very worried about it, making them slide along the shadows of the wall.

Eventually they came to a door, where they had a silent argument over whether to continue on or go in, which Rachel soundly won after finding out that the only way forward outside was through the well-lit courtyard.

Fate was on their side that night as they found themselves in an empty kitchen.

"Food," Rachel practically moaned before Quinn slapped a hand over her mouth.

"We can't stay here. Find bags and I'll get the food. If you see some bottled water, get it," Quinn directed, and Rachel nodded, getting to work.

Quinn quickly found snacks and started piling them on the counter. Next came fruit and bread. Finally, she checked the fridge, hoping to find the remnants of a dinner with meat that she could have. Her stomach growled as she spotted half of a rotisserie chicken. She happily put it on top of her food pile.

Rachel, meanwhile, had located some plastic grocery bags and begun filling them with bottled water. When she had a bagful, she started loading Quinn's items.

She stopped at the chicken.

"Quinn, we're not taking this."

Quinn looked over from the bag she was filling. "Yes we are. I need meat."

"I refuse to be an accomplice in your consumption of an innocent animal."

"I'll carry it then." She made to grab the chicken, but Rachel pulled it out of her reach.

"That's not what I meant."

"Rachel just give it to me!"

"No!"

"This is not the time for you to preach to me about why I should be a vegan! Just let me have my meat and we can go!"

"You don't need this, Quinn!"

"Yes I do!"

Their argument was cut short as they heard the sound of fast approaching footsteps. They looked at each other, wide-eyed, as they realized just how loud they had been.

Rachel was the first to move, snatching up as many bags as she could carry and running out the door they had first come in. Quinn was behind her, making sure to grab the chicken as well.

"I thought I told you no chicken!" Rachel huffed as Quinn caught up with her.

"You can't tell me what to do," she replied while they ran. "Where are we going?"

"The maze is the only place left."

"Great."

* * *

With no prospects of escaping through the manor or around it, Rachel and Quinn were faced with the impossibility of getting through the maze in hopes that at the end they would be free.

Deep in the middle of the maze, after they were sure no one had followed them, Quinn and Rachel sat down to finally eat by the light of a flashlight Rachel had found.

After having downed an entire bottle of water, Quinn dug in to the chicken, not even caring about appearances. Rachel huffed and refused to look at her, much less talk to her. Had this happened a day ago, Quinn would've been ecstatic, but now that she was starting over with Rachel, it bothered her.

"What?"

"I'm not speaking to you."

"I can see that," she said slowly. "Why though?"

"You're eating meat!"

Quinn almost snapped, saying she could eat meat if she damn well pleased, but instead reined in her anger and put down the chicken she had pretty much devoured already anyway. "I won't eat anymore, okay? Happy now?"

She nodded solemnly, but still didn't speak to Quinn.

"You're really making it hard to be nice to you."

"I just can't look at you without seeing the murderer of a mama chicken."

"Then how in the world do you look at your boyfriend, much less kiss him? Because I know for a fact that Finn loves meat."

"I broke up with him last week," she said in a tiny voice.

Quinn stared at her with a look that she usually reserved only for Finn when he did something incredibly stupid. "So you thought he spent his entire savings on a fruit basket for his ex-girlfriend? How are you in honors classes?" It was only after she said it that she realized she might have been insensitive.

"I'm just gonna go to bed then," said Rachel, quickly standing up, wanting to get as far away from Quinn as possible.

"Wait!" Quinn cried, going against her better judgement and grabbing Rachel's hand to prevent her from going away to her corner. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. Please, sit back down."

Rachel looked at her curiously, and then down to their hands, at which Quinn immediately let go. She cautiously took her seat back beside Quinn.

"Do you want to talk about it? Why you two broke up?" She didn't say how happy she was that they broke up, because she didn't understand why she was happy. She surely didn't want Finn back.

"I never felt a spark with him, you know?"

Quinn didn't. "No."

"A spark, like every time you see the person your stomach turns upside down, but you're immediately happy." Something started nagging at the back of her mind, like a mini Rachel kicking her brain, but Quinn decided to ignore it. "I thought that maybe, over time, that would happen with Finn, but it never did."

"Oh."

"And even though I'm scared to death that no one else will ever love me, I'm not going to settle. It's not fair to him."

For the first minute, Quinn sat in shock. Here was the most selfish person she knew, the girl who demanded every solo in Glee, being completely selfless. "You know what, Berry? You're alright."

Rachel beamed. "Thank you, Quinn. When I inevitably go back to him out of sheer desperation, I give you permission to slap me."

She laughed. "Will do."

It was in the silence that followed this that they heard it.

"Raaaaaachel."

She looked over at Quinn, wide-eyed. The voice was instantly recognizable. Jacob Ben Israel was in the maze and, by the sound of it, close.

Quinn immediately scooped up the flashlight, turning it out. Rachel sat stock still, absolutely terrified.

"Raaaaaachel."

At the second call, she moved to cling to Quinn. And because of the situation, Quinn allowed it. She was able to ignore the fact that Rachel was basically in her lap and their faces were kissing distance, by reminding herself that they were in actual danger at the moment.

"I know you're in here, Rachel, just come out."

Rachel was violently shaking by the time he said this, so Quinn held her. She told herself that it was because the sound of her shaking would attract Jacob, but deep down she knew that it was because she legitimately cared that Rachel was scared and wanted to protect her to the best of her ability.

"Quinn, quit hiding my darling Rachel from me. I went to all this trouble of obtaining her and I won't have you ruining it."

Quinn smiled at this, but hid her smile in the crook of Rachel's neck as she held her closer.

They stayed like this for a while, listening as Jacob would wander closer and then farther away. He never found their dead end, but that didn't stop them from clinging to each other for at least an hour after the shouts stopped.

"Do you think he's gone?" Rachel whispered finally, breaking the silence.

"I don't know. Maybe."

Just to be safe, they clung to each other until they fell asleep, at which point they reverted to cuddling on the ground.


	4. The Break

Quinn didn't automatically shy away when she woke up to Rachel in her arms this time. She was actually starting to really enjoy it, which scared her the most. This was what made her remove herself from the happy bubble she was in when holding Rachel.

Not wanting to have breakfast (well, technically lunch since they had slept in) without Rachel, she started going through everything they had brought. There were several items in there that weren't food. Quinn found a pen, bar of soap, paper towels, knife, roadway map of Ohio, and some paper to name a few things.

"Good morning," Rachel yawned, crawling over to sit beside her.

"What did you get all this for?" she asked, indicating the small pile of odds and ends.

"I don't know. I thought we might use it."

"What could we possibly use pen and paper for? Writing a novel about our experience?" she teased.

"No, I thought it might be helpful to have a sketch of the maze," she replied distractedly as she fished through the bags to find some fruit. She handed Quinn an apple and then got one for herself.

"How do you plan on doing that?"

"Though it would be infinitely easier to map it from a vantage point, I guess we'll just walk through and sketch it out."

"I can lift you."

Rachel's face scrunched up in confusion and Quinn told herself that it wasn't the cutest thing she had ever seen. "What?"

"I'm a cheerleader, I can lift you up and you can map it out."

"I thought you were top of the pyramid? I didn't think they did much lifting."

Quinn actually hadn't done much lifting, not since freshman year, but her pride was on the line and she was confident that she could lift tiny Rachel. "Grab your paper and let's go."

"Can we at least finish breakfast first?" she asked, holding up her half-eaten apple.

"No."

She sighed and put the apple down. Quinn was determined and there was no changing her mind now. "How are we going to do this?"

"I'll bend down and you sit on my shoulders."

Rachel looked worried. "I don't remember that in a Cheerios routine."

"That's because it's not. To actually lift someone you need at least two people."

If anything, she became more worried. "Oh. So you're just setting us up to fall by using unsanctioned moves."

"I won't let you fall," Quinn promised. "After winning a tournament of Chicken Fight with Santana against every other Cheerio, I think I can handle you."

"What's Chicken Fight?"

Quinn sighed. Of course she didn't know what Chicken Fight was. "It's where you sit on someone's shoulders and try to knock the opposing person off before they knock you off."

"That sounds highly dangerous."

"That's why you play it in the pool."

"You do know that someone weighs significantly less in a pool, so you've never actually carried a person on your shoulders which means you're likely to fall and we'll both break something and be stuck here forever!"

Quinn stood there and let her rant, barely suppressing an eye roll. "Are you done now?"

"Yes."

"I think I can handle you. Just as long as you don't wiggle around. Brittany did that which was why I didn't partner up with her."

"I'll try."

To be fair, she really did try. But even though she had scaled down a three-story building, her fear of heights hadn't lessened. So she was a bit squirmy when she saw just how high she was off the ground.

"Rachel…" Quinn warned.

"Oh hey! I see the exit! Let me sketch it." She looked down, noticing there was absolutely nothing for her to set the paper on to draw. "Um Quinn? Can I use your head so I can draw?"

Quinn really didn't want her to. She was Quinn fucking Fabray after all, not a table. Though she knew that if she refused they might never get out of there, so she grit her teeth together and answered, "If you have to." Rachel didn't waste any time in getting started.

Quinn imagined what they must look like at the moment: former cheerleader and HBIC Quinn Fabray with resident loser and Glee Club star Rachel Berry sitting on her shoulders and drawing a picture on her head. It was such a ridiculous thought that she laughed.

"What?" Rachel asked, glancing down at her to see just what was so funny.

The sudden movement almost caused her to lose her balance. "Nothing. Stay still."

Rachel resumed drawing and Quinn was left to think about how her legs had started shaking. It had been so long since she exercised, much less went through a Cheerios exercise. Her legs were no longer used to these kinds of strenuous activities, and it was showing. She internally cursed at herself for being selfish and choosing to read indoors all day instead of going running since school let out.

"You almost done?" she called out, trying not to let the pleading be heard in her voice.

"Just give me a couple more minutes," Rachel muttered. "Also turn around so I can record the rest of the maze just in case."

Quinn almost whined, but she turned anyway because they would need this if they wanted to get out. Only she didn't make it all the way. One false step and her foot caved in on her, causing her to land on her ankle and for both of them to come tumbling down.

Pain shot through her, but that didn't bother her. She had endured worse. Her main concern was the girl she had promised they wouldn't fall. "Shit. Rachel, are you okay?"

"The language was once again not necessary," she murmured, remaining on the ground with her eyes closed.

"I asked you a question," Quinn replied, annoyed that Rachel was joking when she could be hurt.

"I'm fine, just a little winded. It was nothing compared to the fall from yesterday. And you, Quinn? You're the one who really fell."

She glanced at her ankle, which had begun swelling up. If she told Rachel, there was sure to be a freakout. So she decided to keep it to herself. She'd lived with a sprained ankle before, if that's what it was. "I'm okay. Did you get the map?"

"Everything except what's behind us. And it's no wonder we get easily lost. This place is enormous."

"Will we be able to navigate our way out now?" As long as they could get out, it was worth a sprained ankle.

"Of course."

"Good." Quinn moved over to Rachel. "You sure you're okay?"

"Since when did you become so caring?" Rachel asked, confused.

She hadn't realized she was being too caring. She quickly dismissed it with a lame excuse. "I'm not, we just need your talent in Glee Club."

"It's summer, Quinn. I won't have to dance for Glee until September."

"Oh."

"But yes, I'm perfectly fine." She sat up and smiled lightly at Quinn. "See?"

"Okay."

"Can we finish breakfast now? Afterwards, I suggest we make our way out of the maze, lest we run into Jacob Ben Israel again."

"Sure." Quinn didn't think she could walk at the moment, anyway. "Can you bring me my apple?"

Rachel hesitated for a second, and Quinn was sure she was going to call out her injury, but she didn't. "Sure. Want anything else?"

"Water? And maybe another apple?"

"Okay." She skipped off around the corner to their stuff.

Quinn used the time to check the seriousness of her injury. After poking it with her finger and feeling enough pain to make her want to cry, she decided that she had definitely sprained it. She just hoped it wasn't fractured or broken.

"Here you go," Rachel said, handing her the apples and water before sitting down to enjoy her own. "How far do you think we are from Lima?"

Quinn thought of her ankle and how much it was going to hurt to walk. "Hopefully not far."

"Oh I know! Let's look at the map of Ohio!" She scrambled up to go get it, but Quinn stopped her.

"All you got was a roadmap. We won't be able to find ourselves on it."

"Guess it was stupid to get it, then." Rachel frowned, expecting Quinn to start chastising her.

"No, it'll be helpful if we end up on a highway once we're out of here."

She brightened. "Oh good! And we're definitely reporting this to the police the second we get home, right?"

"Yes. Why wouldn't we?"

"I don't know. We should get started. I would love to finally be able to sleep in my bed again instead of the cold, hard ground." Rachel stood up, and Quinn internally panicked. Breakfast had been shorter than she predicted and she was about to have to walk. She wasn't prepared for this.

She stood up anyway, because she was anything but weak, and immediately fell back down. Rachel took notice, much to Quinn's dismay.

She quickly inspected the ankle that Quinn was clutching while uttering expletives. "You did hurt yourself!"

"It's not that bad," Quinn managed to get out after she had stopped cursing under her breath.

"Yes it is! You've definitely sprained it! You shouldn't walk until at least tomorrow."

"I'll be fine! I've done this before, just give me a hand up," Quinn insisted.

"No. You're going to sit here and rest your ankle and maybe I'll help you tomorrow, but as of now I refuse."

Quinn could not let Rachel see her as weak. So she switched over to mean, which was the easiest to do. "Berry, you are going to help me up."

"I do not appreciate you reverting to calling me by my last name, nor the mean tone of your voice. If you would just quietly sit there while I go get something to elevate your ankle with."

The moment Rachel was gone, Quinn sighed in defeat. There was no changing it now. She was stuck like this and she hated it. She didn't want to feel helpless, especially around Rachel Berry.

"We can't just sit here," Quinn protested when Rachel came back. "What if Jacob shows up again?" Rachel ignored her as she gently put a roll of paper towels under Quinn's hurt ankle.

"You might want to get comfortable," she commented before she leaned back against the hedge beside Quinn. "Because we're here for another day at least."

"You're impossible," Quinn replied quietly as she laid her head on Rachel's shoulder. If she was going to be forced to stay here for a while, the least she could do was get a couple more hours of sleep.

"I'm okay with that."

* * *

Quinn woke up much later to find the sky darkening and her hand in a sleeping Rachel's. Her ankle still throbbed, but she was more focused on how cute Rachel was when she slept. No, she couldn't think that.

But then Rachel sleepily opened her eyes and smiled at her and her heart melted. There was no one in the world who wouldn't think this was cute, she rationed. So she smiled back at her.

Her face unintentionally moved closer to Rachel's, and she was sure they were going to kiss and it was going to be mindblowingly amazing and she didn't care how wrong it was she just wanted it _so bad._ Then her mind caught up with her because no, she couldn't kiss Rachel. Just… No.

She slowly backed off, resisting the urge to run away because she knew it would do more harm, both to her ankle and to Rachel's feelings, than good. Rachel, thankfully, still didn't look like she was completely awake and therefore didn't comprehend what was going on.

"Did I fall asleep too?" Rachel asked as she sat up. She had fallen asleep against Quinn's head, but when Quinn sat up she had fallen back on the hedge that they sat against.

"I guess so."

That was close. Too close. She couldn't just kiss Rachel. She wasn't supposed to kiss girls. That was all kinds of wrong. She would have to be more careful about how close she got to Rachel, both physically and emotionally, from now on.


	5. The Panic

Rachel noticed Quinn become distant. It was extremely sudden, waking up from a nap to find Quinn would barely even look at her, much less talk to her.

At first she thought it was because of her insistence at Quinn not walking on her hurt ankle. This could only be the logical reason, right? She hadn't done anything else to get such cold treatment from the girl who she thought she was finally becoming friends with.

So for a while she insisted that she was only doing this to prevent Quinn from further injuring herself. Quinn would just look at her hands during these speeches, as if they held the answers to all the world's problems.

With nothing else to do, Rachel curled up and tried to sleep after they had dinner. Only it wasn't happening. She couldn't sleep, no matter how long she laid there. Quinn was stuck in her head and wouldn't leave. What had she done?

Maybe Quinn was still mad about the fact that she had gotten them into this situation? Jacob was _her_ stalker, after all. Quinn had just been dragged into this mess as a result of knowing too much.

But Rachel had apologized for that multiple times. And Quinn had been just fine that morning. What changed?

* * *

Quinn couldn't look at her. If she saw the defeated look on Rachel's face she would break. Why did that almost happen? Why did she want to kiss Rachel?

It ruined everything.

She got just about as much sleep as Rachel that night. It was more likely due to the fact that she had slept for the majority of the day, but her mind blamed it on Rachel.

Around sunrise, she decided she was done trying to sleep. She would have some breakfast and then they would get out of the maze, sprained ankle be damned.

WIth a plan in mind, she opened her eyes and they went instantly to Rachel's corner. Only Rachel wasn't there. She scanned their makeshift campsite, hoping to see Rachel fixing something for breakfast, but found nothing.

She immediately started to panic, her mind jumping to the conclusion that Jacob Ben Israel had come for Rachel in the middle of the night in the little time she had been asleep, and she hadn't stopped it. She should've stopped it.

"Rachel?" she called out, hoping for a response to prove her theory wrong. None came.

"No. No no no no no no," she muttered as she stood up. She relished in the pain that was still apparent in her ankle. Pain was good. She deserved pain for letting them take Rachel right out from under her nose.

She started walking back through the maze, shouting Rachel's name at intervals, wincing with every step. She was going to storm the manor if she didn't find Rachel. She couldn't just let creepy Jacob have his way with Rachel, after she had been nothing but kind and caring to Quinn.

In her mind, she was planning out a course of action for once she reached the manor when she heard her name.

"Quinn?"

She froze. "Rachel?" she called out, thinking it was nothing but a trick of the mind.

"Are you going somewhere without me?" The voice was coming from behind her. She whirled around and sure enough, there was Rachel, not ten steps away, looking extremely confused. "Because if I remember correctly you agreed to never do that again."

"You… I…" she couldn't form coherent sentences she was so happy. Quinn practically tripped over herself trying to get to her. She wrapped Rachel in a hug the moment she did get there, not caring at all about keeping her distance.

"Did something happen?" Rachel questioned. "Because I don't think I've ever seen you this happy about seeing me. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen you happy about seeing me at all."

"Do you know how worried I was?" Quinn asked, breaking the hug so she could look at her. "I woke up to find no one there and no note indicating where you had went! I thought Jacob had gotten you!"

"I just had to go to the bathroom and I thought you would appreciate it if I didn't do that near where we are currently living."

"The least you could've done is leave me a note! I know I wasn't talking to you but honestly, Rachel, that doesn't mean I don't care if anything happens to you! I care more than I should and it terrifies me."

"What?" Rachel was certain she hadn't heard her correctly. Quinn cared about her?

"Look." Quinn sighed, shaking her head in disbelief. "You've even got me speaking in paragraphs like you."

"I'm sorry, Quinn. I should have realized."

"Yes, you should have." She pulled Rachel back into a hug. "Please don't do that ever again."

"I won't," Rachel whispered into her ear.

When the hug broke this time, neither of them were really ready for it. They both just stayed in each other's arms, gazing into eyes. It was almost as if they were being magnetically held there, and soon the magnet overpowered them to pull them closer.

Quinn couldn't stop now even if she wanted to, which she didn't. So before she knew it, she was kissing Rachel, and Rachel was kissing back.

For those few seconds, Quinn felt as if everything was right with the world. It didn't matter that they were stuck in the middle of a maze after escaping Jacob Ben Israel, or that they were both in serious need of a shower. It didn't matter that what she was doing with Rachel was technically a sin, both in God's eyes and the eyes of McKinley High. Time stood still in that moment, and nothing else mattered.

Of course, time can't stand still forever, just like Rachel and Quinn couldn't go on kissing without stopping to breathe. The second they broke apart, everything came crashing back to Quinn as she realized what she had just done.

She ran.

"Quinn!" Rachel took off after her. She wasn't going to let her get away. She was confused herself with what just happened, and they certainly needed to talk about it, but she wasn't complaining. "Quinn, stop!"

Rachel wasn't what ended up stopping her. No, if she had been able to, Quinn would've ran until she collapsed from exhaustion. Instead, she collapsed from her sprained ankle. It was done with all the exertion.

"Great," Quinn groaned rolling over to lay on her back.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked when she got there, kneeling down to check on her.

"Go away."

"No, I won't. Now, are you okay? Is anything hurt besides your ankle?"

"My pride," she murmured, not intending for Rachel to hear. Though she did, and giggled at it.

"I guess we both have the tendency to make jokes after falling," Rachel replied, smiling at her. "Why don't we head back?" She offered her hand, which Quinn took without hesitation. There was no other way she would've gotten off the ground. And there was no way Quinn would've made it back if Rachel hadn't helped her.

They didn't talk at all on the way back to their campsite. Rachel felt Quinn needed some time to think, and Quinn just didn't want to talk to her.

She couldn't believe she had actually kissed Rachel. What was she thinking? Nothing good could come of this. Before there had been a chance that they could be friends, but then she went and messed everything up.

"Breakfast?" Rachel suggested upon their arrival back at their stuff.

Quinn nodded and sat back down in her usual spot with her back up against the hedge, hoping that something would just fall out of the sky and strike her down so she wouldn't have to have the conversation she knew was coming.

Rachel broke the silence of breakfast after Quinn had had time to devour her granola bar and banana. "So."

Quinn looked up. It had arrived.

"Did you feel it?" Rachel blurted out.

"What?" Yes, she was certain she had felt the kiss. It would have kind of been hard for her not to.

"The spark. Did you feel it?"

"I…" She hadn't felt a spark. It was more like a bonfire. "Did you?"

"Would it freak you out if I said yes?" Quinn's mouth went dry; Rachel felt it too. "And I don't think it's because you're a superb kisser because Jesse was actually quite good and I never really felt anything with him."

"I… I felt it too," she admitted. "But I can't, Rachel."

Rachel's smile that hadn't left since they kissed took on a falseness then. "Of course, Quinn. I understand." She couldn't hold the smile anymore. Tears were welling in her eyes. "But answer this for me: is it because I'm a girl, or because you're afraid your popularity will take a hit if we go through with this?"

Quinn hesitated. No matter what she said, she was guaranteed to hurt Rachel. "Both."

"Which one is it more of, though?"

She knew better than to answer this one. Because as much as she could tell herself that it was because of how her mother would respond and how it was going against her faith, it was mainly because she didn't want to face the whispers and looks at school.

Rachel knew what was meant by her silence. "That's what I thought."

"I'm sorry."

"No you're not. Because if you were, you'd make this work."

Quinn's face took on a pained expression."I can't."

"Try," she insisted.

"Rachel…"

But Rachel wasn't giving up. "Just try until we get back home. Then if you don't feel like you can do it we can pretend like it never happened."

That would be ideal. She could try and get all of this out of her system so she could go back home and be normal. But then again, what if it didn't? What if it got worse? What if she got attached? What if Rachel got attached? "Is that really fair to you?"

"I think I can handle it," she replied before climbing into Quinn's lap. "Plus I'm very confident in my abilities to seduce you."

Quinn arched an eyebrow, trying to remain calm while Rachel was playing with her hair and wearing a smirk that she'd never seen before. "It took you an entire semester to win Finn Hudson. You really think you can seduce me in a day or two?"

"So is that a yes to trying?"

"If it means we can kiss again."

"Oh most definitely."

* * *

Needless to say, Rachel and Quinn spent another day in the maze. Quinn still had to rest her ankle, especially since she had strained it so much earlier. Only this day wasn't so bad.

Before the end of the day, there had been several furious make out sessions, but most of it had been spent really getting to know each other and flirting. Quinn started to find Rachel's long-winded rants endearing, while Rachel found the real side of Quinn, the slightly sarcastic and funny girl that never really appeared at school.

It was a day that both of them would remember with fondness for years to come, and if you asked either of them about their time in the maze they would smile and say, "Oh, it wasn't _all_ bad."

Though while they did enjoy their day, they knew they couldn't just stay longer to prolong their time together. There was every likelihood that Jacob would come back to search for them, and neither wanted to experience that again. So they made plans to leave early the next morning, Quinn's ankle permitting.

That night, Quinn went to bed feeling truly happy for the first time in her life. She had a beautiful girl wrapped in her arms who made her laugh and took care of her and whose kisses were literally the best thing ever. If she could experience this feeling forever, then she would gladly choose to be with Rachel in a heartbeat. But she knew that when they went back, their perfect thing would become tainted by reality.

Rachel didn't go through the inner turmoil that Quinn did that night. She slept soundly, knowing that Quinn would make the right choice. Who wouldn't after the day they had? She dreamt of their apartment in New York where she would come home from a show, where she starred as Fanny in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl, to find Quinn had waited up for her even though she had to go to work early. Quinn would tell her all about her day and about the small things, like what their kids were struggling with in their homework and what their plans for the holiday were.

It didn't even occur to her that the deciding factor in whether this was only a fantasy or real life was the sleepless Quinn holding her.

* * *

**A/N: So they finally kissed. Yay! I should mention that there's one more chapter left, along with a small epilogue. While I do love these characters, they have to get out of the maze at some point which means this has to end. (Also I only had 15 days to write Jacob's Maze in its entirety so yeah. It had to end so I could go write We Go Together.)**


	6. The Escape

"You ready?"

Their grocery bags were packed with the remaining food and what Quinn thought they needed. Rachel had wanted to take it all (including the trash because littering didn't help the environment), which Quinn had quickly remedied by offering to let her carry the nonessentials.

She sighed, taking Rachel's free hand with hers and squeezing it briefly. "Yeah. Let's go." She then wrapped her arm around Rachel's shoulder so she wouldn't have to put too much weight on her ankle.

Rachel pulled out the map that had been the cause of Quinn's injury. "Okay. We're here, so we need to go… That way!"

It took them a while, what with Quinn hopping along and Rachel's directions being a bit off, but they reached the end by noon.

They both almost cried in frustration when they reached the end only to find what looked like a corn maze. Rachel quickly pointed out it was only a corn field, and that the corn was in rows and thankfully not a maze.

After the corn field, they found a road. Rachel pulled out her roadmap at the first sight of it, looking extremely proud of herself. Quinn laughed.

"I knew it would come in handy," Rachel stated as they sat on the ground to rest and figure out where they were.

"So you did. Let's just hope you can read this map better than the one of the maze," Quinn teased, and Rachel pushed her playfully.

"Hey! You couldn't read it any better!"

"I didn't draw it! I'm not supposed to be able to distinguish all those squiggles."

"Then you can distinguish the squiggles on this map, Quinn Fabray," Rachel replied, handing over the road map she had been reading.

"I will," Quinn said confidently. "What road are we on?"

"Figure it out, I'm having lunch." She began pulling out the items they would need.

"Do I not get any?"

"Of course you do. You can have your peanut butter sandwich _after_ you figure out where we are."

Quinn groaned. "Peanut butter sandwiches again?"

"You should've picked up a greater variety of food if you didn't want to have the same thing all the time."

"Yes, you've told me this a thousand times," she replied, standing up.

"And you've complained about peanut butter sandwiches a thousand times," Rachel reminded her. "Where are you going?"

"To find me a girlfriend who can make me something other than peanut butter sandwiches." Rachel's head shot up from her focus on the sandwiches at those words. Quinn didn't appear to have noticed what she said, so Rachel didn't bring it to attention that Quinn had just called Rachel her girlfriend.

"Quinn, where are you really going?"

"Down the road. Maybe there'll be a sign telling me where we are. If I don't come back, I've probably been murdered or found real food."

Rachel smiled weakly, knowing Quinn was joking, but still unable to get over what she had just called her. "Okay, I'll know then to go on without you."

Quinn gave her a peck on the cheek before whispering, "I'll be back."

She grinned. "See you then."

Quinn grinned back at her before hobbling down the dirt road.

Rachel sighed happily as she watched Quinn disappear. She knew they were going to be alright. They would get back to Lima and Quinn would say they should go on an actual date after they'd both had showers. It was going to happen.

She got so caught up in her daydreams that she didn't even notice it when Quinn came back.

"Rachel?"

"Huh?" she asked, sitting up from staring at the clouds.

"I found the road on the map. We're just outside of Lima. We can be home before dark," Quinn explained excitedly. "There's even a gas station up ahead where we can call someone to come pick us up."

"That's great!" Rachel truly was happy, thinking their date would become a reality, and soon.

Quinn's happiness was fake. She knew she couldn't stay with Rachel once they reached Lima. She had halfway hoped that they were in some remote part of the country, far away from their town. But no, she was just a couple hours' walk from never being able to kiss Rachel again.

She savored this last peanut butter sandwich with Rachel, trying to memorize every detail of their last lunch. The way the sunlight hit her hair, her smile, her laugh, her silly observations.

All too soon, lunch was over and they needed to get moving again. Quinn tried to prolong it as much as she could, but Rachel was just so excited to get home that she didn't have the heart to drag it out too long.

Rachel broke into song as they made their way down the road. It was the first time Quinn had heard her sing during their time there, and she pointed this out.

"Well, I haven't been singing for two reasons: one, we were kidnapped, which doesn't really call for happy show tunes that I'm usually predisposed to singing, and two, I thought it would annoy you."

"It wouldn't have annoyed me."

"Really? So you're saying if I had started singing 'Tomorrow' from _Annie_ when we were captive in that room, you wouldn't have yelled 'Man Hands! Shut up before I strangle you!' or something to that degree?"

Quinn paused for a second, thinking back to their time in the room. "I wouldn't have been that mean. And I wouldn't have called you Man Hands. I like your hands." To reinforce what she said, she took one of Rachel's hands in hers.

"Treasure Trail?" Rachel suggested.

"No."

"Ru-"

"Rachel, haven't you noticed that I haven't called you a single demeaning nickname since school?" she asked, getting a bit annoyed that her kindness that had taken so much out of her to do back then had gone largely unnoticed.

"Not really. They had gotten to the point where they didn't phase me anymore," Rachel replied offhandedly.

"That's… Not okay. I'm sorry that I ever called you them and I'm especially sorry that you've gotten so used to them." Guilt started building up in Quinn and she felt horrible.

"Apology accepted."

She was shocked. "Just like that?"

Rachel nodded. "Just like that."

"But… It can't be that simple. I called you names and got people to slushie you for an entire year, and you're just going to dismiss it?" Quinn stopped them.

"Yes. You seem truly remorseful and you're definitely not the girl you used to be, so why shouldn't I?" Rachel tried to get them to continue moving, but Quinn was rooted to the spot.

She shook her head. "You're way too forgiving for your own good."

"That's what my fathers say, but I think that everyone is worthy of forgiveness." She finally got Quinn to move again.

"From the way you talk about your fathers, they seem to be much greater men than mine."

"They have their faults, too. Everyone does."

"Look, it's the gas station," Quinn pointed out as they reached the end of the dirt road to find a rundown gas station.

Rachel frowned. "It doesn't look very safe to me. There could be criminals or drug dealers hiding out in there, just waiting for us to come in so they can kill us."

"Or there could be a nice convenience store lady that will let us use the phone to call someone to pick us up," Quinn suggested.

"I think we're both being a little unrealistic here."

"Speak for yourself."

"Fine. You go in and I can wait out here," she said, throwing away their grocery bags in the trash can. They weren't needed anymore with them being so close to reentering civilization.

"I will. And you'll feel like an idiot when I come back with the free food that the kind grandma offered me after I called for help." Quinn turned on her and confidently strode into the gas station.

There was not a kind old lady behind the counter. If anything, he was closer to Rachel's guess of a criminal or drug dealer. She almost backed out then and there, but she wasn't a quitter. She didn't want Rachel to laugh when she came running back out the door.

So she endured what happened next.

"Excuse me, do you have a phone I could use?" Quinn asked as she reached the counter.

The man looked up from his place at the window where Quinn was certain he had been watching Rachel. "You two have car trouble?"

Her father had taught her to never admit to that, especially if the guy looked sketchy. "No. We just need to use a phone, please, if you have one."

"Where's your car?" he questioned, ignoring her request.

She didn't have a response to this. Her dad didn't tell her what to say when this happened. "Can I please just use your phone? I'm supposed to check in with my mom and she'll be freaking out if I don't."

"Why don't you call your friend in and I'll call a tow truck for your car? There's no need in her waiting out in the hot sun."

"You know what, I think we'll just be going now." Her mind told her to run. But her hurt ankle only allowed her to slowly back out.

"Now just hold on a second, there's no need in wandering off when I-" But Quinn was out the door before she heard what he said next. Luckily he didn't chase after her. Guess he had a job to keep.

"Who did you call?" Rachel asked, but Quinn just took her arm and hurried her along down the road.

"No one. You were halfway right."

"So drug dealer or criminal?"

"I'm guessing rapist, though it could've been a perfectly ordinary guy who was watching you attentively when I came in. And please don't say 'I told you so'."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"Yes you were."

"Well… maybe once we were further down the road," she admitted. "So what now? We walk to Lima?"

Quinn shrugged. "Guess so. If your map is right, this road should lead us straight to it in a couple miles."

"Is your ankle okay? Do we need to stop again?"

"We're not stopping no matter how my ankle feels. I don't want any chance of that guy catching us." Truth be told, her ankle was developing a slow throb, and she knew that once she was home she wasn't walking for a week.

"Well at least tell me if it's okay."

"It hurts," she admitted. "But I can handle it."

"See? Was it so hard to share your feelings?" Rachel asked teasingly.

She grimaced. "Yes. For every share of feelings, I lose a year of life."

"Wow, you're going to be ancient when you finally die."

"At least I'll be around to see all the tv tributes to the Broadway legend Rachel Berry when she dies."

"You really think I'll make it on Broadway?" she asked hopefully.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "I thought I already told you this. Multiple times, if I remember correctly."

"You did, it's just nice to hear coming from you."

They went on like this for a while, just enjoying each other's company. Quinn grew more depressed with every step, but hid it well. When they at last saw the "Welcome to Lima" sign, she almost cried. And so did Rachel, actually, but for an entirely different reason.

"Well, I guess this is it," Quinn sighed as they walked past the sign and entered the city limits. The moment she did, she let go of Rachel's hand.

Rachel was confused. Why was Quinn acting like it was the end of the world? They were finally home! She didn't mention it though, knowing if Quinn wanted to talk about it, she would, but pushing her to talk about feelings wouldn't accomplish anything.

"We're going to the police station first, right?" she asked instead.

"Yeah. Our houses are in completely opposite directions so it would make sense to go there first," Quinn confirmed.

The police station wasn't that far in town, so they only walked a few more blocks before they reached it.

Quinn let Rachel do all the talking at the police station. Jacob was her stalker after all, not Quinn's, so it made sense. They were only detained for about an hour, and after giving their names, phone numbers, and addresses so they could be contacted for further questioning, they were free to go.

When Quinn turned left outside the station, Rachel couldn't be silent anymore. "Where are you going? My house is the other way. Or did you want to go to your house first?"

Here was the part Quinn had been dreading the most. "I can't, Rachel. The last two days were perfect for the most part, but I can't. So I'm gonna go ahead and go home."

Rachel's face fell. She hadn't expected this to happen at all. She expected Quinn to walk her home, kiss her on the front porch, and then go inside to meet her dads. "Of course it was too good to be true."

"Yeah. Well, see you around, Berry." Quinn turned to walk away, but didn't get a block away before she was being spun around and kissed.

"I needed one more," Rachel said after they broke apart, tears forming in her eyes.

"Why?" Quinn asked, her voice cracking, warning her that she was going to cry too. "That just makes it worse."

Rachel smiled. "So you'll remember everything we could've been." With that, she was gone, running in the opposite direction.

And as much as Quinn wanted to run after her, she knew she couldn't. She would later blame it on her ankle, but she knew it was because she was a coward.

* * *

**A/N: And there you have it. We have reached the end of the crazy journey of Jacob's Maze. Thanks for reading even though this story was kind of insane. Also thanks for the reviews! And the favorites! And the follows! Those all really make me happy. **

**One more thing: if you really think I would leave this story the way it is, then you obviously don't know me and how I'm a big believer in the happy ending, especially for my OTP. Epilogue coming up next Friday. What do you want to see happen?**


	7. The Epilogue

A week passed. Both stayed in bed, completely miserable. They didn't even get out of bed when the police came to interview them further.

Quinn went through so many books that week, trying to find just one where she could get so invested that she might forget about Rachel for just a little bit. None of them helped, not even her favorites. So after a week, she gave up trying.

Rachel, meanwhile, watched her entire collection of musicals, in hopes that they would make her unbearably happy like they usually did. No such thing happened. She didn't even sing along.

Her fathers had her watching _Funny Girl _for the fourth time this week, for they thought that if Barbra couldn't cheer her up, no one could. They had finally managed to coax her downstairs to watch it on the couch, which was considered to be a vast improvement. It was in the middle of the movie, however, that there came a knock on the door.

One of her fathers got up to get it, even though she usually ran to get the door before them. She couldn't be bothered to do it anymore.

"Rachel, honey? There's someone here to see you," her dad called, and she slowly got up from the couch, expecting to find another glee kid there to try and cheer her up.

Instead she found Quinn, soaking wet with a single gardenia. Quinn gave her a weak smile. She could only stare for the first minute, believing it to be just a ghost, so Quinn spoke first.

"It started out as such a pretty day that I thought I'd walk. Then the rain came out of nowhere," she joked.

"What are you doing here?" Rachel questioned, closing the door and stepping out to stand on the porch with her.

"Did you see the paper?" Quinn asked, stalling for time.

"Yeah, my dads read it to me. Jacob was arrested," Rachel said, trying to keep her emotions intact. "Is that all you came here for?"

"No," she said. "This past week has been horrible, and while I could go on blaming my ankle, I don't want to. I never thought I'd say it, but I miss you Rachel Berry. I miss arguing with you over chicken and cuddling with you at night and God I miss your kisses. Though it might mean putting up with you speaking in paragraphs and the people at school, I think I can handle it," she sighed. "I want to try, if you still do." Quinn held out the flower, which Rachel hesitantly took after a minute.

"So what you're saying is you can't stay away from me?" A grin started forming on her face.

"If you want to interpret it as that then yes. I'm going insane and it's all your fault," she replied, a smile finally showing through.

Rachel laughed, unable to control her happiness anymore. "And you doubted my seduction skills."

"Would you like to go on a date with me tonight?" she blurted out.

Rachel pulled her down for a kiss. When they broke apart, she said, "Of course you'll have to meet my fathers first. Their approval is very important to me."

"Of course," she agreed.

"Would you like to meet them now? They've been very eager to meet the girl who kept me safe during my kidnapping."

"Well, it would save time tonight."

Rachel opened the door to let her in. "Hope you like _Funny Girl_."

"Isn't that a requirement for dating you?"

* * *

**A/N: So there you have it: a small epilogue just so you don't all kill me for the way I left the story last week. I hope this is a better ending.**

**Jacob's Maze was a fun way to think about something else other than the mountains of schoolwork I was ignoring and the Our Greatest Acting Challenge chapters I wasn't writing. It is truly the most insane thing I have ever written, and I'm amazed at all of you who have read and liked it. I was expecting maybe 5 people and horrible reviews, but all of you blew those expectations out of the water. Thanks for that.**

**So now that it's over, what were your favorite parts?**

**And while I will not write a sequel, I will answer questions over at my tumblr, ellenfaucet.**


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